Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. (April 25, 2008)

CYNDI LAUPER WANTS YOU TO HAVE SOME FUNAs Sarah reported last month, Cyndi Lauper‘s True Colors tour will once again be bringing some good gay fun (and music) to your neck of the woods this summer. But just in case you weren’t aware of how much Cyndi loves us, she made this special video greeting for AfterEllen.com readers:

I had the pleasure of going to the True Colors tour last year, and it was a blast. Cyndi Lauper is truly one of the LGBT community’s best allies, and she’s a joy to watch onstage as well. In fact, why not queue up "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" on your iPod, because you’ll need to listen to something cheery after reading this next section …

… JUST DON’T DO IT IN SINGAPORE
AE reader Alicia tipped us off to the sad news that homophobia is still enforced in some parts of the world — in this case, Singapore. Starhub Cable Vision, a cable channel in Singapore, was fined $10,000 (US$7,200) for airing a commercial that promoted the song "Silly Child" by pop singer Olivia Yan. In the song, two girls kiss while a boy (presumably the boyfriend of one of them) sees them; he later confronts one of the girls but seems to accept her and embraces her. The song doesn’t seem to end on a terribly happy note, but nor does it make the girls’ relationship seem wrong.

Within the commercial, romanticised scenes of two girls kissing were shown and it portrayed the relationship as acceptable. This is in breach of the TV advertising guidelines, which disallows advertisements that condone homosexuality. MDA also consulted the Advisory Committee for Chinese Programmes and the Committee concurred that the commercial had promoted lesbianism as acceptable and romantic, especially when shown together with the lyrics featured.

Fridae, an Asian LGBT website, reports that Starhub was "disappointed with the watchdog’s decision but says it understands the concern and will work closely with partners to ensure broadcasting guidelines are adhered to." In Singapore, gay sex is still legally "an act of gross indecency" and is punishable by up to two years in jail, although recently the government has said it will not enforce these laws in the case of consensual relationships between adults.

Obviously, this is disappointing for LGBT people everywhere, but particularly for lesbians who live in Singapore. Watch the video for yourself here; at least in the U.S. it’s not illegal!

It seems that Singapore needs their own True Colors tour — hey, Cyndi, how about taking it overseas?